IF A DECIDUOUS TREE grows in your Brooklyn (or Boston or Baton Rouge) yard, chances are you need a leaf blower. But these portable wind-making machines have drawbacks. Gas-powered versions emit noxious fumes, can be notoriously difficult to start, and vent a roar that might rattle your otherwise serene neighborhood. Electric models, though quiet and emissions-free, must be tethered to outlets. And while early battery-powered blowers showed promise, they were too anemic to clear all but the puniest patios.

This season, however, a new breed of hand-held blower—equipped with beefy batteries and efficient digital motors—is delivering gas-like but cord-free performance. Among the best: Worx’s 56V Air Turbine. Comparable to a high-end backpack blower, it has an impressive 465 cubic-feet-per-minute rating (or CFM, a measurement of the volume of air unleashed). While the side-mounted intake fans on gas or electric models pull air through a 90-degree turn before forcing it out, the Worx has a linear intake like a jet engine. Air is gulped in through the back, twisted by the internal fins to increase power, then pushed straight out through the nozzle. (Like most cordless blowers, this one doesn’t mulch.)